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Thursday, October 06, 2005

The link shown above is to a local news story about a young man named Johnathan Tate. Mr. Tate alleges that he was assaulted by mall security at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon, California. Mr. Tate is fond of his "goth" clothing and was apparently wearing a colored bandana that could signify a gang affiliation. When Mr. Tate refused a request my mall security to remove the bandana or leave the premises, he instead sat down as if he was a war protester from the 1960's. Security placed him under citizen's arrest for trespassing. While Johnathon Tate is technically a teenager in that he is 19 years old, he is also an adult that should take responsibility for his own actions.

An owner of private property such as a shopping mall has the right to make rules and regulations regarding the use of the property. If a shopping mall owner wishes to ban colored bandanas because of potential gang problems, that is well within their prerogative to do so. Mr. Tate had no right to disobey an apparently lawful request for him to leave the property. From the facts described in the article, it appears that he resisted a lawful citizen’s arrest for trespassing.

Perhaps the most amusing part of the whole article was when the family consulted Andre Zeehandelaar, described as a “retired” attorney. Mr. Zeehandelaar isn’t retired; he was disbarred by the State Bar of California for unethical behavior after less than 10 years as an attorney. In a battle of credibility, I think that mall security would prevail over Mr. Tate and his “retired” attorney.